A/N

Cheerio chaps (and ladies) just a shout out to my lovely reviewers:

TobiGB: Thank you very much, that means a lot to me.

Ichiro Kuragari: Thanks! I hope you enjoy this chapter even more.

And to all the people who subscribed and favourited my story, thank you, it really inspires me :)

By the way, these shout outs will be a regular occurrence from now on, so remember to review!

So when we left off Naruto was sort of spilling his guts about Hinata (well, as much as you can expect from Naruto) and Neji kissed Tenten.

Naruto Ran as fast as he could. He needed to see Hinata. The sprinting made him feel better, as though he was accomplishing something. He raced through the ruins, past small shrubs and grasses, the night air cooling his fevered brow.

He missed Hinata's company, her support, her friendship. It would be somewhat awkward to speak to her now, after the incident with Pein, but he needed to see her again at the least.

'Why am I doing this?' he wondered, 'I never thought Hinata meant this much to me.' Well, said the annoying voice of reason in his head, she's your friend, isn't she?

'Yeah,' he thought back, 'so? Sasuke is my friend too, so is Sakura, Sai, Gaara, Neji, Tenten, Ino, Shikamaru, Temari, Kankuro, Bushy-brow, Kiba, Shino…'

Would you say that Hinata was one of your closer friends?

'What, you mean like Sasuke, Gaara, and Sakura?'

Well, yeah sure, why not?

'I guess so…'

Would you say that Hinata was your best friend?

The blonde boy thought about all the support that the girl had given him over the years, her friendship, her kindness, her unyielding belief in him.

'But what about Sasuke?'

What has Sasuke ever done for you? Has he ever sacrificed himself to help you? Hinata almost died for you, boy. She was the only reason that you defeated Pein. Do you remember why she did all that? Have you even thought about it yet?

"She…" the words caught in Naruto's throat.

"She loves me."

Exactly. Now, would you say that she was your best friend?

It was about that time that Naruto noticed a conspicuous weight on his back. He stopped short, curious as to what this odd thing was. There was an "Oof!" and a thump behind him, and the weight vanished. Turning around he beheld…

"Host!"

"Hey."

"What the hell were you doing on my back?!"

"Just chatting," replied the older man.

"What the… how?"

Like this, fox boy.

"Whoa!" Naruto jumped backwards with a shout.

"Does that explain it?"

Host received a shake of the head.

With a sigh, he launched into a very long and complicated explanation:

"The brain is divided into three parts, the cerebrum, or conscious thought, the cerebellum, or unconscious thought, and the brain stem, instincts. All I had to do to remotely access your brain's hard drive was to stimulate the cerebral cortex through a stream of nebulous thought to…"

"Hold up!"

"What?"

"You can see in my mind?"

He didn't see Host's grin, but he felt it. A spine prickling, blood chilling display of teeth.

"Naruto, I am your mind."

Sai sat by himself, painting by the torchlight. He was particularly proud of this one. It was of a young girl kneeling on scorched grass, gasping to catch her breath. Her hair was unkempt, and thin trails of blood seeped from a wound on her cheek. She grasped a kunai in one hand, and the sky was red from distant fires.

Sai shook his head to clear it. Why did this girl remind him of someone he knew? Feeling a tap on his shoulder he turned his head to look into the smiling face of Ino Yamanaka.

"Hey, Sai!" she greeted him.

"Hello, gorgeous."

Sai couldn't understand why, but whenever he used that nickname she practically swooned into his arms. She barely resisted the temptation this time. Barely.

"What are you painting?" she purred.

"Oh, um…"The artist tried to cover his work. He hated in when people saw his paintings before they were done. She was too quick though. Resting her chin on his shoulder, she examined the portrait. He practically felt her mood change from bubbly to thoughtful.

"What made you paint this, Sai?"

Taking a moment to ponder the question, he answered: "I don't know what the term is."

Pulling up a nearby chair and sitting down beside him (remember that in the center of the coliseum there is that foldout stage, speakers, computer bank, and circle of chairs) she began: "Well, let's think."

The pale boy almost sighed out loud. He didn't feel like talking right now, he just wanted to paint. Oh well, maybe he could get her to leave quickly if he just nodded at everything she said.

"Did your heart beat faster while you were painting it?" she asked.

"Her."

"What?"

"Did my heart go faster when I was painting 'her'."

"Sorry, but did it?"

"Did what?"

"Did you heart go faster when you were… oh never mind. Was it a good or bad feeling that made you want to paint her?"

"Good. No, wait, bad. No, definitely good. Well, it was both."

"Ok, well the term you're looking for is: 'inspiration'," she finished with a small smile.

"Inspiration," he repeated, rolling the word around, "So, inspiration is a feeling, then?"

"Yep, all artists get it."

"Really? Only artists? Why not other people too?"

"Well, I suppose everyone feels that way sometimes, but only when they see or hear or think about something that makes them want to create."

"So… everyone gets it?"

"I suppose so. Now I'm confused!"

"Sorry, gorgeous," the nickname just slipped out.

"There's no need to be sorry, Sai," she laughed, "I'm just not sure whether I'm giving you an accurate definition or not."

They sat in silence for a while as Sai continued to paint. Suddenly a thought struck him.

"Ino," he began, "Would you go stand over there for a moment, please?" He pointed to a space about three metres in front of himself. She complied, and he studied her figure as she stood in the spot she had been directed to.

"What?" she asked, blushing, "You're looking at me funny."

It's her, he thought, in the painting she looks different, disheveled, but it's definitely her, no mistake. In real life he said: "Nothing, I was just thinking that you would make a lovely model. May I paint you sometime?"

Blushing heavily under the praise, Ino replied: "Of course, I'd be honoured!"

Why would she be honoured? I was just asking a favour. Well, I guess I did use the word lovely, so that could be seen as a compliment. "Great," he said with his trademark smile.

"What do you mean you're my mind?!" Naruto shouted at the small man before him.

By way of an answer, the man in question lowered his hood, unwrapped his sunglasses from his head, unzipped his high collared coat, and pulled off his mask.

"S-so that's what you look like," Naruto gasped.

What he saw before him was a lean young man of about 18 or 19 with black hair that stuck out in every direction and bright green eyes. His skin was tanned and weather-beaten, his nose was slightly hooked, and a red vest.

"Yes, this is what I look like to you," said Host.

"To me? What do you mean by that?"

Host sighed, re-zipping his coat. "That," he said adjusting his mask, glasses, and hood, "Is an answer for another time." And like a plume of smoke, he dissipated into thin air.

To say the least, Naruto was shaken. That was no jutsu he had ever seen before. It didn't even look like a jutsu at all. Teleportation or unsummoning techniques usually happened with a crack, poof, or bang, but this guy had just blown away as though he were made of dust! Suddenly their mind conversation came back to the blonde boy. "Hinata," he muttered out loud, and resumed his search for the midnight haired girl.

Host was glad to have gotten away from that particular conversation. He didn't really want to explain himself right now, there were more pressing matters to attend to. "Let's see what's happening with Neji and Tenten, shall we?" he hissed to himself. Sweeping through the darkness he headed toward the place where he could sense the two ninjas' presence. The moonlight cast a silvery glow over everything that he ran through and leapt over, but the effect was lost on the man. Text flickered across his vision as a small crosshair scampered to cover the spots that his ever-moving pupils examined. The shadows were heavy in the coliseum, disguising small shrubs and patches of crumbled marble. These shadows did not exist to the specter moving through the night. He saw everything in a sickly green garnished with a soulless, grainy quality.

With one great leap he reached his destination, zooming in on his targets. I sound like a machine, Host thought to himself, Targets, honestly, they're people.

Neji and Tenten were sitting hand in hand on a fallen pillar, her head on his shoulder. They gazed up at the stars together, Neji occasionally pointing out constellations or naming stars. Host crouched there in his hiding place, watching them, staring at their contentment. It didn't make sense to him. The Hyuuga, his calmness around the girl by his side. Host spotted his ever so slight quivering, but that was infinitesimal in comparison to his confidence.

Host leapt blindly down from the pillar he crouched on, landing with a painful thump. He grunted in discomfourt as the ground's shockwave radiated through his thin body, momentarily forgetting to keep quiet around these shinobi. Neji and Tenten's heads snapped around with lightning speed, searching for the cause of the disturbance. Host held his breath nervously, hoping against hope that he would not be discovered.

"What was that?" Tenten asked.

"Hold on," replied Neji, "Byakugan!"

Scanning the area, the Hyuuga saw nothing but bats and reptiles.

"Nothing, it must have been a rock falling or something."

A chill breeze swept past the two shinobi, causing Tenten to shiver. Although it was very slight, Neji felt in nonetheless. He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to him, offering her his warmth.

I feel so girly, Tenten thought as she snuggled into Neji's chest, but this is just soooo comfourtable.

"That's enough, Hyuuga."

Both ninja jumped up for the second time, drawing kunai. They were shocked at what they beheld.

"Host?" Tenten addressed him, bewildered.

"You again!" Neji growled.

"Me again, Hyuuga," Host replied coldly

"What are you doing here?" asked the weapons mistress.

"Just… checking up on you two."

"We don't need checking up on, Host," Neji retorted.

"Oh but I think you do," the man in black cast off his cloak to reveal a flowing black shirt underneath and black trousers tied up from ankles to shins, "I really think that you need checking up on."

"What are you playing at?"

"This." Host threw a twelve-pointed shuriken, spinning like a deadly saw blade towards Neji. Blocking the projectile effortlessly, the Hyuuga prodigy activated his Byakugan.

Host grinned savagely, running towards his opponent. Excellent, he thought, this makes my work even easier.

Neji was given a nasty surprise at the moment he activated his Byakugan. He could see everything except Host. Looking around in utter confusion for a moment he felt a nasty blow on the back of his head. Spinning to face his attacker he was still presented with nothing but air. Another blow struck him in the stomach, making him double over.

"Neji!" shouted Tenten, unfurling her combat scroll. Why wasn't Neji fighting back? Host was right there! Neji's eyes could see everything, so why was he acting as though he couldn't see Host?

Summoning twelve kunai she hurled them towards the man in black. The weapons flew in a perfect arc, three burying themselves in the flesh of Host's back. He slumped to the ground, groaning in pain.

Tenten ran to her opponent. Handsome face or no handsome face he was going to die for attacking Neji!

Speaking of Neji, the Hyuuga was still whirling around blindly, searching for his invisible enemy. Now was time to see what Host's secret was.

"Neji, you can deactivate your eyes now, he's down," Tenten informed him, kneeling beside Neji's fallen attacker.

The Hyuuga soon joined her beside the man in black, quickly pulling off Host's mask and sunglasses. Tenten was once again treated to a view of Host's soft brown eyes and aquiline nose. His straight brown hair was tousled from the full-face mask, and his normally bright complexion had paled to a sickly pallor.

"Host!" she snapped, "I think we deserve some answers right about now! Who are you and why have you got us all here?"

Gritting his teeth in pain, he shuddered into a position where he was looking into Tenten's eyes.

"Tenten," he choked on his own words, "I was always pretty sure that it would be you who would take me down. Beauty often comes with deadliness."

Beauty? Tenten had never thought of herself as particularly pretty. Mind, she hadn't really cared either. What was Host going on about?

"Just answer the questions!" she said harshly.

Host grinned at her gently.

"I am everyone here."

A/N

ALRIGHT! Fifth chapter done, my darlings! I am really sorry that I haven't updated in a long time. Maybe if I got a few reviews for this chapter I would update sooner ;)

So review, my lovelies, and maybe I'll write the next chapter faster.

*OMAKE*OMAKE*OMAKE*OMAKE*OMAKE*OMAKE*OMAKE*

Shikamaru and Temari lay together on the ground, gazing at the night sky.

"Hey, Shikamaru, a penny for your thoughts?" Temari asked.

"I was thinking I might put my arm around your shoulders."

She put his arm around her shoulders and snuggled closer to him.

After about ten minutes she asked again: "Shikamaru? A penny for your thoughts?"

"I was thinking I might give you a kiss."

So he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek as she blushed.

After another ten minutes she asked: "Shikamaru, a penny for your thoughts?"

Then he frowned and said: "Well, I was wondering when you were going to give me those three pennies."

Haha! Yeah…

Also, I'm not entirely sure where I'm going to go with this. If you have an idea please leave a comment expressing your opinion. Plz, the story is in your hands! O.O